n00b Qs: check shopping list; need cables?

[xplo]

I finally got the money to pull the trigger on buying parts for a new Hackintosh. I'm fairly comfortable with messing around inside a computer case, as I've installed drives, RAM, cards, etc (including one time when I took a Power Mac 7100 completely apart and replaced some of the parts from another 7100) - but I've never actually built a computer from scratch before so I'm feeling slightly uncertain...

Here's my parts list:

Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Mid Tower http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139011
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139035
Pareema 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820576006
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP5 TH http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128559
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
Sony Optiarc drive (already own)
some SATA hard drive (already own)

Anyone see any glaring omissions, strange choices, or compatibility issues? (The lack of graphics card and wifi is intentional.) I wouldn't think so as I've spent a fair amount of time researching, but you know, a second pair of eyes...

It looks like the case comes with connectors for its fans and front panel jacks, and the power supply would come with all the cables it needs to connect to the motherboard - but am I gonna need to buy separate interface cables for the drives? Are there any other little parts I'm missing that don't come with what I'm already ordering?

Sorry for the dumb n00b questions, but I'd hate to have all my stuff show up at my door and then have to wait for some stupid $12 part or something before I can begin building - "measure twice, cut once", you know, except here it's more like "ask dumb questions, don't make dumb mistakes".

 

[Stork]

Good to go. The critical components for hackintoshing are:

• Motherboard
• Processor
• Graphics card

So, since your motherboard and processor will support the Intel Integrated Graphics HD4000, you can afford to get going w/o a graphics card.

The User Builds and Golden Builds forum sections have some build descriptions with various graphics cards. See also the tonymacx86 Buying Guide for 2012; the link is in my sig blk.

If you're contemplating a WiFi card, see this review: http://www.tonymacx86.com/network/58497-off-shelf-native-airport-pci-express-wifi-card.html I have one of these ,and it works OOB.

 

[xplo]

Thanks for the once-over, Stork. I don't need wifi with my current network config and I plan on using the integrated graphics as I don't do a lot of gaming, so both will be future upgrades.

Any advice re: needing to buy drive interface cables or other small parts?

 

[Going Bald]

Any advice re: needing to buy drive interface cables or other small parts?

How many SATA devices? Gigabyte boards usually come with 2 SATA cables and if you have more than that you need SATA cables - always handy to have a few extra anyway.
How many fans do you have? Can you connect them all to the main board? Corsair PSUs usually have a 4-pin Molex to case fan adapter, but if you have more than one fan that needs power, I would suggest a fan speed controller you can connect the case fans to. There are controllers that fit in an unused 5.25" slot and there are some that are mounted in an expansion slot cover that you can put in the back.

 

[xplo]

How many SATA devices? Gigabyte boards usually come with 2 SATA cables and if you have more than that you need SATA cables - always handy to have a few extra anyway.

2 to start (HDD and optical), SSD later for sure.

Turns out there's a photo of the board and box contents on Newegg that makes it look like it comes with 6 SATA cables - but I can't find any text that supports (or contradicts) that.

How many fans do you have? Can you connect them all to the main board? Corsair PSUs usually have a 4-pin Molex to case fan adapter, but if you have more than one fan that needs power, I would suggest a fan speed controller you can connect the case fans to. There are controllers that fit in an unused 5.25" slot and there are some that are mounted in an expansion slot cover that you can put in the back.

The case comes with 2, and there'll be one on the PSU, and one on the CPU. I don't plan on OCing right away so hopefully that will be enough to start with. Specs for the board say "1 x CPU fan header, 4 x system fan headers" so I assume that means five places to plug fans into? Will the PSU have a dedicated connection for its own fan? Do fan connections on the board typically handle speed control?

 

[Going Bald]

OK, you have enough SATA cables coming with the board, there are enough fan connectors on the board for your case fans. Probably the only one that is 4 pin PWM speed control is the CPU fan. The others are probably 3 pin. The big question then becomes: will the fan cables reach the fan connectors on the board? Sometimes this answer is no, so you might want to get yourself 2 or 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812196131&Tpk=case%20fan%20extension%20cable - another cable it is always nice to have extras on hand.

 

[search3000]

If you're going to buy from NewEgg - and I'm in no way suggesting that you shouldn't - then read the product feedback from previous buyers - particularly Gigabyte MBs. Sure, some buyers may appear to not know what they are doing - so the complaints may be unwarranted - but others are knowledgeable. Every time Maximum PC favorably rates a product that may be of interest to me, I look at the NewEgg feedback and often wonder if the same product is being discussed.

 

[xplo]

Probably the only one that is 4 pin PWM speed control is the CPU fan. The others are probably 3 pin. The big question then becomes: will the fan cables reach the fan connectors on the board? Sometimes this answer is no, so you might want to get yourself 2 or 3 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812196131&Tpk=case%20fan%20extension%20cable - another cable it is always nice to have extras on hand.

This is exactly the kind of help I need - raising questions I wouldn't know to ask and showing me where I need to do more research (and what to look for).

I looked at the board and case pics again and located 3 of the four fan headers (and the CPU fan header). I'm confident the case fan cables will reach, though I'm not sure whether I'll be able to route the front fan cable along the side for best airflow. OTOH I'm not worried about perfect airflow for now because I don't expect this config to run very hot. Since all the fan headers on the board appear to be 4-pin, I'll consider high performance 4-pin fans for a future upgrade and can buy fan cable extensions at that time.

If you're going to buy from NewEgg - and I'm in no way suggesting that you shouldn't - then read the product feedback from previous buyers - particularly Gigabyte MBs. Sure, some buyers may appear to not know what they are doing - so the complaints may be unwarranted - but others are knowledgeable.

That's a fair warning - I see a number of complaints about possible design/QC problems.

Reasons for choosing this board:

- Great OC support (will use in future)
- GB boards reported to offer best compatibility with MacOS
- Thunderbolt (futureproofing)
- priced a bit higher than I wanted to go, but seems to offer great value for its feature set

Can you suggest alternatives?

 

[search3000]

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4279#bios

I'm assuming the EFI BIOS eliminates the requirement for a DSDT - since there isn't one available
(see http://www.tonymacx86.com/11-dsdt-database.html)


For reviews of Z77 chipset Gigabyte MBs see:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6296/gigabyte-z77xup4-th-review-thunderbolt-times-two
http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index...g=gigabyte-gaz77mxd3h-review-z77-and-microatx
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6108/...eview-functionality-meets-competitive-pricing
******
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5829/a-first-look-at-thunderbolt-on-windows-with-msis-z77agd80 (about Thunderbolt)


I've been using Gigabyte boards for awhile: Win 7, SuSe Linux, & currently 4 OS X (but not a Z77). For OS X, it's the way to go, but QC is a problem.